Directed by Jafar Panahi • 2011 • Iran
Starring Jafar Panahi
The first work fearless auteur Jafar Panahi made after being officially banned from filmmaking by the Iranian government, this clandestine documentary—shot partially on an iPhone and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes—depicts the day-to-day life of the acclaimed director during his house arrest in his Tehran apartment. While appealing his sentence, Panahi is seen talking to his family and lawyer on the phone, discussing his plight with codirector Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, and reflecting on the meaning of the art of filmmaking. What emerges from this intimate self-portrait is a by turns humorous, moving, and defiant statement of creative resilience in the face of oppression.
Up Next in Directed by Jafar Panahi
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The White Balloon
Directed by Jafar Panahi • 1995 • Iran
Starring Aida Mohammadkhani, Mohsen Kafili, Fereshteh Sadre OrafaiyJafar Panahi’s revelatory debut feature is a child’s-eye adventure in which a young girl’s quest to buy a goldfish leads her on a detour-filled journey through the streets of Tehran on the ...
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The Mirror
Directed by Jafar Panahi • 1997 • Iran
Starring Mina Mohammad Khani, Aida Mohammadkhani, Kazem MojdehiIranian master Jafar Panahi explores the interplay of imagination and reality in this slyly inventive meta-film marvel. When her mother is late to pick her up from school, first grader Mina (Mi...
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No Bears
Directed by Jafar Panahi • 2022 • Iran
Starring Naser Hashemi, Bakhtiyar Panjeei, Vahid MobaserOne of the world’s great cinematic artists, Jafar Panahi has been carefully crafting self-reflexive works about artistic, personal, and political freedom for the past three decades, despite being bann...
